The author of the libretto was surmised to have been Aphra Behn due to the feminist nature of the text, and that she later worked with Blow on the play The Luckey Chance.

Venus and Adonis is considered by some to be either a semi-opera or a masque,[4] but The New Grove names it as the earliest surviving English opera.

In addition to this major divergence from the myth in Adonis' motivation, Blow's version also includes the addition of a number of comic scenes with Cupid, including the spelling lesson he gives to the young cupids and his opinion that almost no one in the court is faithful—the latter an especially pungent critique given that it is believed that Cupid was played by Lady Mary Tudor, then around 10 years old and Charles II's illegitimate daughter, and Venus by Mary (Moll) Davis, the king's former lover.

[1] After a French overture, Cupid addresses assorted shepherds and shepherdesses, accusing them of infidelity, and invites them to enjoy true pastoral pleasures.

The couple are resting on a couch, and Venus, accompanied by obbligato recorder, is toying with Adonis's sexual anticipation.

The huntsmen intrude and sing of an enormous boar that is causing severe problems; thus goaded, Adonis leaves.